BADIN, Pakistan – A local mosque’s imam reportedly killed a 12-year-old girl student after gang-raping her along with three other accomplices, reported a private TV channel on Saturday.

As per details, a 12-year-old girl student attended seminary for religious education when Maulvi Ghulam Murtaza stopped her while sending other students home after dismissing class. Reportedly, Imam then called three other men of the village and they gang-raped the girl at one of the seminary rooms in the mosque.

The gang then strangled the girl reportedly in an apparent attempt to cover their wrongdoing. The family reached the mosque to rescue the girl as they got the information but it was too late. Doctors confirmed she was killed after violent sexual assault.

Following doctor’s confirmation, police arrested the cleric and registered an FIR. However, the other three men were at large.

In another incident in Shujahabad, a traffic warden, Akhtar, allegedly raped a 22-year-old girl after tricking her into a promise of marriage. Civil hospital’s medical report confirmed it was sexual assault. Police registered the case but the accused remains at large.

Muslim women need to fight back against rape, sexual and physical abuse by any means possible – using their Q’uran, networking with other women, secular courts where Sharia doesn’t hold legal authority in a country and, if needed, self-defense using any means necessary. Personally, I’d favor pruning shears in the night and leaving the country by the most rapid and/or covert means available. Networking only though trusted womens’ networks or foreign womens’ assistance organizations for shelter, travel funds, passports and safe houses until reaching the west. Even then, caution would be vital as I do not believe Obama’s government is trustworthy.